Learning Gap is a thoroughly researched book highlighting concrete problems in America's education. It is of particular interest to me because I was brought up in the Chinese education system until I was 16 with two parents who were both Chinese teachers, and went through high school, college, and graduate school here in America. I, like the authors, also happen to be a psychologist whose research focuses on K-12 education. Reading both the Learning Gap and the Teaching Gap reminded me of my own experience growing up in Chinese classrooms, at home, moving to America, and now researching in American classrooms. Many of the phenomenon described in the book are prevalent in classrooms I have observed in Pennsylvania schools, even in award-winning teacher's classrooms. While I do believe the authors overstated the positives of the cultural and school environments in China (since I've been to many Chinese schools with lousy teachers and unmotivated kids), it did not understate the problem in American education today. Most imporantly, the book established that within-culture difference, while strong, is small compare to cross-culture differences. Its arguments are not based on hollow idealogy or fad, but data. That makes Learning Gap a rare gem of high academic integrity. It can serve as a good reference book for the evaluation of education for schools, parents, and students themselves. For an educator, a parent, or a concerned citizen, this book is very uplifting and energizing. Not because it highlighted problems (we hear problems every day just on the news), but because it narrowed down to the relevant, important, significant problems. The first step to saving education is to know which limited set of problems must we devote our limited resources towards. To quote a popular American slang, we need to "get the biggest bang for our buck" in education. I believe the Learning Gap and the Teaching Gap has done a marvelous job towards that end. My kudos to the authors for their research scholarship, for their strong stand based on data, and for a thoroughly well presented and uplifting book. I recommend this book for teachers, parents, concerned citizens, and even students themselves.

Great Book. I am in the special education field as a result of not meeting my full potential as a student. When I read about the Asian school systems for teaching especially maths I could not keep saying to myself - if only my teachers taught it that way. I especially liked the idea that materials are taught in a more hands on manner and the group learning which make for better ties between children in the class room. definitaley buy this book if you were left unawares as to why or how the school system didn't quite succeed when you were a student.
Jason Alster MSc
Author
BEING IN CONTROL : Natural Techniques for Increasing Your Potential and Creativity for Success in School

This is the most amazing book I've ever read on education, and one of the most eye-opening books I've read period. Every day on the news you hear about 'education reform.' Politicians and administrators are refering to things like smaller classes, better equipment, and other non-issues. The reason American kids are doing so poorly compared to other countries is much deeper and fundamental than that. What makes this book so amazing is that it explores the issues from several angles. American parents' expectations are much lower than Asian parents'. They would rather the kids be well-rounded with extracuricular activities and a social life. School takes a lower priority. American society thinks natural ability is more important than effort. Asians think effort is much more important. American's way of thinking is a dead-end for students. They will not be motivated to keep trying, thinking they just don't have the ability. American teachers rate 'clarity of explanation' as among the least important qualities a teacher could have. They rate 'sensitivity' as the most important. In Asian society, teachers gave the opposite rating. How amazing, the quality of imparting knowledge is among the least important things considered by American teachers. The profession of teaching is much more respected in Asian societies. So Asian students do far better than ours, in spite of these facts: their societies are poorer; their parents are busier; they have a lot more time than American children for social interaction at school; they even watch more t.v. than American children.
If we as a society would read this book (and others like it), our eyes would be opened to the real problem with our schools, and we could take the first steps to transforming our society.

The Bones in The Cliff

This is one of my favorite books. It was one of James Stevenson's books. I think he is a pretty good writer. I like how he worded the whole book. He really makes things interesting. There really wasn't anything I didn't like about his book. It isn't a very long book either, that's something I like. I like the types of book that are interesting but not a very lengthy book. Most of the books I've read have been real long and don't get interesting. That's why I like books from Stevenson. I would recommend this book to anyone over any other book in the library.

This book was great. It was the best and it was a very great thriller. If a hitman was after me dad I don't think I would be as brave as Pete!

After Pete's father died, Pete was sent to live with his best friend, Rootie. It is then that he discovers why he and his father had to constantly move around from place to place, always hiding when his father was alive. Pete suddenly finds himself in the middle of his father's secret. Now the same people that were after his father are after Pete. And the only people Pete can turn to are his two best friends, Rootie and Mooshy. No one else can be trusted...

A great thriller to any one who likes mysterys!!
NOT ONCE GETS BORING!!!
This is the best book Ive ever read!!
If you like mysterys READ THIS BOOK

This book is a good managerial/legal overview but lacks technical depth and any analysis of the human cost incurred by the A-12 cancellation debacle. It exhaustively details program management missteps and lays out the legal argument which favors the contractor assertion that the program (excuse me, contract) was terminated for convenience. However, the reader is left with the misleading impression that most engineering problems (and there were many) were resolved by the time of cancellation. However, in January 1991, there were many challenges ahead that drawing release tracking charts did not reflect. In the final analysis, Dick Cheney did the right thing the wrong way and thousands of workers were fired virtually overnight by companies that had mortgaged their futures trying to get a piece of the stealth pie; Mr. Stevenson got it mostly right.

Mr. Stevenson does it again in his second book on the stpuid spending decisions that come from the Pentagon. In this book he covers the fraud, waste, mis-management, and general abuse of the laws and rules of both the Navy and the Nation in trying to buy a plane that even the Navy didn't want right away. This book talks about it all from the hatred of the various under secretary's of the project and how they tried to kill it. How the Navy went about skipping major milestones and reporting laws in the name of "National Security", how the USAF didn't want to share thier lessons learned in builiding the F-117A and B-2A under the same "National Security" banner (let alone they wanted to control all stealth projects) and finally after spending all of 5 billion US dollars and 10 yrs of development all that the American taxpayer had to gain from it was a non-working wooden mock up, thousands of thousands of sheets of memos and designs, and a bunch of bolts that did absoultely nothing. He uses this aqusition project as another attempt to show the world what is wrong with how the US buys its weapons systems. In this book you can pick up some more ideas as to how he thinks one should go about buying everything from thread to carriers and how the contracts should be written. When you read through the lines. There are numerous footnotes and a well stock biblograhpy so the reader can track down the source of a subject if then need to. This is a wonderful compainion to his previous book on the F-18 Horent.

I was a test engineer for a sub-contractor on this "black hole" program . During my two year stay on the program , I certainly saw no "waste and fraud" nor did a good friend of mine at GD who was very closely associated with the program. For those two years we put in very long hours 6 to 7 days a week and had all of our "state of the art" test equipment up and running and certified ahead of schedule . The book tells it as it was , a program that was mis-managed by the Navy from the day the contract was signed . The airframe producers , General Dynamics and Mcdonnell Douglas , found their hands tied as they didn't get the support they were expecting from Northrop's "learning curve" on the B2 program . This coupled with the never ending design changes requested by the Navy brought on the inevitable cost over runs . This is a superbly written book by the author of "The Pentagon Paradox" , another "must read" book !

"Fffftt!" Cupid's arrow, once again, pierces the hearts of two unsuspecting people. Causing two people to fall in love, Cupid is known for his matchmaking. Similarly, Cupid is portrayed through Jane Austen's Emma. The protagonist, Emma, tries to find her best friend, Harriet, a husband. Emma is a well thought out, insightful novel. Despite the time gap between the time that Austen composed this novel and present day, the reader can still relate with characters. By developing a setting for Emma, Austen uses a realistic setting. For example, in the village of Highbury, class rank, reputation, and family background are major factors in marriage arrangements, which was a harsh reality during those times. Austen also develops Emma really well through her actions and decisions. Because Emma is a life-like character, she too makes mistakes. In addition, Emma also chooses to make decisions that make readers love and despise her. Creating unique love triangles, they contribute to the interesting and complex plot. For instance, Harriet has affections for Mr. Elton, however Mr. Elton has feelings for Emma, and Emma is trying to set up Harriet and Mr. Elton together. Using symbols, Austen is able to help readers recognize affections between characters. Showing his love for Emma, Mr. Elton keeps Emma's portrait of Harriet and makes a riddle for Emma and Harriet. However, Emma interprets Mr. Elton keeping the portrait and the riddle as his love for Harriet, but in fact symbolizes feelings for Emma. Also, Austen's themes are well carried out in arrogance and self-deception, and marriage. Thinking she's a perfect matchmaker, Emma is constantly proud of herself and her setups. However, she is unable to realize that marriage can't be playing around with. Ultimately, Emma was a very good book because of its great setting, characters, plot, symbols, and themes.

The divison of opinion on this page is interesting but probably not surprising. Emma is a book for serious readers and if you go in expecting an easy-to-read page turner, then stick to Danielle Steele. (It is beyond depressing that two people who wrote reviews were somehow of the amazingly ignorant opinion that Jane Austen ripped off Alicia Silverstone's Clueless.....Rather difficult seeing as she was alive in the early 1800's .....hmmm.) Emma takes patience but it's a rewarding read, with all the complications, misunderstandings andbanality of your average soap opera yet shining with Austen's trademark subtle wit and mordant intelligence which has made this novel a classic.Books do require a little more time, effort and thinking than sitting mindlessly in front of Alicia Silverstone, but what you take away from the experience is a much wider understanding.

Jane Austen said of Emma Woodhouse (in a letter) that she had written a novel with a heroine "whom no one would like but myself". Indeed the first sentence (another sterling first sentence by Austen. How does she do it?) paints a picture that is easily understood as a spoilt little rich girl:

"Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever and rich, with a comfortable house and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her."

At the same time we have to disagree with Miss Austen. Readers have fallen in love with Emma (both novel and heroine) since the novel was published, and with good reason

Ronald Blythe states in his introduction to the 1966 Penguin Classics edition of "Emma" that it is "the climax of Jane Austen's genius and the Parthenon of fiction." I do not dispute it for a second. This novel is my favourite work from my favourite author.

The book has a plot so timeless than even translating it to modern day Hollywood and casting Alicia Silverstone in the lead still gets you a hit movie, Clueless. OK, it's obvious from the first chapter who is destined to marry Emma but our dashing hero, Mr Knightley, is still the only person who ever criticises Emma, indeed he spends a large part of his time in the novel telling either Emma or her friends about her flaws.

Austen wrote to her niece Anna (writing a novel at the time) that "Three or four families in a country village is the very thing to work on" and stayed close to this for most of her own works. Yet at the same time, in a letter to her brother Edward (another incipient novelist) she played down her concerns as "the little bit (two inches wide) of ivory on which I work with so fine a brush, as to produce little effect, after much labour." 'Emma' is certainly the novel on the smallest piece of ivory with the finest brush, yet it pokes as much fun and wields as savage a knife on the social conventions of Austen's England as any other novelist of the time.

Austen was capable of writing novels with genuine popular appeal at the same time as she flouted the conventions of fiction. 'Emma' is a marvellous example, an easily read, enjoyable novel with a heroine who is in charge of her own destiny and who marries for no other reason than she loves a good, strong man.

Everyone deserves to read a novel this good. Just because teenage girls will adore this novel and swoon over Mr Knightley doesn't mean the rest of us should be stopped from this marvellous read. I enjoy Austen immensely and this is my favourite. I probably read it once or twice a year.

When you come to choosing the edition I once again find myself recommending the Penguin Classics edition for its Introduction. This time it is Fiona Stafford who does such a good job (though I think the '66 edition Introduction by Ronald Blythe was a fraction better.)

Let me first echo the sentiments expressed by others and comment on what a beautiful edition the Univ of Nebraska Press has produced. The margins are indeed wide and the type very readable. This edition is easily held, the illustrations nicely complement the text and the binding is quite durable. The introduction by Joyce Carol Oates is helpful albeit pedantic. Also, those who've read the Univ of Calif Press edition of Frankenstein will notice some overlap between this introduction and the one that Ms. Oates wrote for that particular edition. Nonetheless, the introduction is valuable.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one of those stories, like Frankenstein and Dracula, that seemingly everyone has heard of and believes they understand("mythopoetic " in the language of Joyce Carol Oates). Much like the aforementioned works, the actual details of the story may come as a surprise to those who assume they know the story based solely on the popular understanding. For that reason alone I think the book is worth reading.

Dr. Jekyll is a respected if somewhat reclusive London doctor who has, through the course of years of experimentation, managed to create a solution which brings to the fore his evil alter-ego. Unlike many gothic literary villains, Hyde is not imbued with superhuman strength or exceptional gifts of any kind. In fact he is of a smaller and less imposing stature than most men. What he does possess however is a complete lack of compunction with regards to others. Hyde for example ruthlessly runs down a small child who gets in his way. As is the case with Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll creates something that he can't control and which eventually destroys its creator.

The inhumanity that the fictional Hyde displays can be seen in the non-fictious world on a daily basis. As such, there is a realism to the story which is missing from many horror stories past and present. The fact that such a short and captivating work exists in an attractively packaged edition makes this one classic that will be a joy to read for all.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a clasic so, naturaly, I had high expectations. I certainly was not let down. It has a totally unique style with much detail and extensive writing. Yet, this novel is a very quickly read novel, unlike other excessively detailed books like Dracula. This book is not boring. This book is fun. It doesn't ruin the plot with too much detail like other books. Other fantasy books are usually not even close to realistic. Whereas Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is close to being conceived realistic. This book has a general morbid feeling to it where other fantasies are sometimes cheerful and happy. Robert Louis Stevenson is a realy good writer in my opinion.
He uses a very wide range of vocabulary. Stevenson uses many 19th Century terms that seem weird and different to me.
One thing bad about his writing is his punctuation. He uses way too many semicolons and comas. He makes one sentence out of six or seven sentences.
This book was not the best book I ever read, but was not the worst either. it was mediocre. however It was miles ahead of Dracula. Dracula is boring, whereas Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is fast paced, quick, and fun to read. its pritty morbid which is kind of a down side, but Since it is very short it is a good book on my list.

The University of Nebraska Press edition of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is beautiful! The illustrations by Barry Moser, woodcuts that progress chronologically through Dr. Jekyll's life as it is described in hints throughout Robert Louis Stevenson's story, are atmospheric and evocative; a picture of a boy being guided by his father, for example, echoes Dr. Jekyll's comments that he has a "fatherly" interest in his alter-ego, Hyde, while Hyde has a son's "indifference" to the father; the cover illustration is a portrait of Dr. Jekyll's father destroyed by Mr. Hyde on a rampage.

Joyce Carol Oates's introduction is worthwhile, especially for those readers who know the story, as most English-speaking people do, in its basic framework, but who have not yet actually traveled the dark road with Dr. Jekyll and his friends.

It is a pleasure to read a classic book in such a carefully crafted edition. Too often books such as this are printed in cheap editions with narrow margins and lousy type; this one fits comfortably in the hand and is easy on the eye as the reader is drawn into this allegorical nightmare.

This review refers to the University of Nebraska Press edition only.

Is it Fun?

This book explains how this author and illustrator's life was and what he liked and what he disliked. Or in his terms: Fun or No Fun. The book explains his colorful imagination. He made a go-cart from an old sled. He wasn't a couch potato and just sat down and watched TV. He was active; he liked to run and jump and do all sorts of things. One thing I don't like about this book is it leaves me with some unanswered questions, such as when he is talking about what dogs are fun and no fun, Mrs. Kellogg's dog doesn't really say anything. I would like to know why he never went near the dog.

James Stevenson's book is a great book to compare and contrast older days with present times. Kids and parents would have fun reading this book together.

Another winner from James Stevenson!

Set at the turn of the 19 th century, this story is a visual delight with a light-hearted message for kids and adults alike. Little mouse Hubert and his rather straight-laced parents vacation at a seaside resort (a beautifully pictured Victorian). Hubert discovers that he's the only kid there, and that the other animal guests are not very interested in him.

Then, Hubert has the good fortune (and the curiosity) to meet Alf, the hotel groundskeeper. He shows Hubert that "there's plenty to do around here...but you have to keep your eyes peeled." Together they enjoys some unexpected joys of nature, and Hubert takes a thrilling ride in Alf's homemade glider.

My five-year-old and I enjoyed this very much. The pictures of late 19th century houses and trains are richly detailed, from the candelabras to the stenciled ceilings.

Stevenson effectively conveys how joy can be found in seemingly boring places. It takes some curiosity,and sometimes some adult guidance to discover that joy. A fun book for kids and adults: Highly recommended!

This is the book that grows on you, as a parent. My older child received it as a gift when she was around 4. I didn't see much to it, but my daughter asked to read it over and over again. By the hundredth reading I came to see that to a four year old Hubert's entertainments, while rather ordinary activities, are quite engrossing. The message that friends come in all ages and where you least expect them is quite reassuring. When my second child became addicted to the book I realized it was a real winner. Both my kids like to read it night after night -- both around the age of four. Hubert's activities are interesting to them, and the beach hotel setting is just a little bit exotic. I suppose fuddy-duddy parent characters are to be expected. Maybe to the kids they don't look any more fuddy-duddy than their own! The illustrations are wonderful, and kids like the cartoon aspect of the text.

James Stevenson does an excellent job of not only showing how the Pentagon is just another government bureaucracy which squanders taxpayers money but also shows how the US Navy deliberately chose to procure an aircraft they knew was inferior mainly because they didn't want the hated US Air Force dictating what aircraft the Navy should fly. Shows the ugly corruption that places interservice rivalry and favored defense contractors ahead of America's security. Every elected official and concerned taxpayer should read this and see the dark underbelly of America's military.

First off Mr. Stevenson has a very big axe to grind and he does it with this book. If you can put that out of your head when you read this and understand it for what it is. That is how, by using the F-18 Horent as an example, the Pentagon wants to buy simple but so many people put so much into what that item needs to do that it become so costly and overbudget that it is cheaper to continue to fund it and buy it then it is to trash it and start again. This book is dated to a point in that it was written just after the First Gulf War. But the ideas covered in how the Pentagon fails to buy its weapons right is still true. The biggest part of the axe to grind is about half way through the book when the reader finds out that Mr. Stevenson was very involved with this project as an Undersecretary in the late 70's going into the early 80's. So he knows to a point how some of the bitter congressional fighting went. He also finds a way to bite back as some of the (at the time) current Defense personnel that stood in his way. If you can over look this axe then this is a very good book. When added with how he has recently written about the A-12 Avenger II fiasco it does well as to provided some ideas on how to fix the purchasing of new weapons sytems and platforms.

This book takes an indepth look at the F-18 history. But it does not assume that what the Department of Defense or the U.S. Navy claims is necessary true.

The book gives a behind the scenes look at what really happened with the F-18 and how it became an aircraft less than it could have been.

Anyone who wants to feel good about the F-18 should avoid reading this book. This tome is for those looking for what really happened and want a basis for understanding the process by which the military provides systems that often fall far short of their claims.